Atari 50th Anniversary Collection

[bfollowell]

48 minutes ago, MrFish said:

None of the titles are bad (they're all A or B grade), there's just too few of them to represent the system here.

 

 

This is exactly how I felt about the 8-bit selection, and several others as well. Obviously, with a compilation like this, I really expected to see the arcade and 2600 get the lion's share of the titles, which they did, but I really would've expected to see a little more coverage for the 5200, 8-bit, Lynx and Jaguar sections.

 

It still looks like a great compilation though and I'm sure I'll pick it up eventually.

 

[Atariboy]

I was watching another video just now and no Warbirds between Turbo Sub (Lynx) and Bounty Bob Strikes back (Atari 8-bit).

 

I don't understand why some folks have it and others apparently don't, but apparently it's not just a mistake on the game list that's being published.

Edited November 12, 2022 by Atariboy

[roots.genoa]

7 hours ago, DrVenkman said:

A compiliation as nice as this makes me wish Atari had never auctioned off the IP for BATTLE ZONE

Well, it makes me wish they never sold the entire arcade division in 1984. 😅

 

2 hours ago, Atariboy said:

Warbords has appeared in a variety of Atari 50 impressions videos since release.

I own the damn game and Warbirds is not in it. 🤷‍♂️

[roots.genoa]

46 minutes ago, Atariboy said:

I don't understand why some folks have it and others apparently don't, but apparently it's not just a mistake on the game list that's being published.

My guess is that it was still included in the review version for journalists. But when you think about it, there are now 5 Lynx games and 5 800 games, so it makes sense (kinda). It's still weird they couldn't add a game without removing one, though. Maybe they are already thinking of possible DLC?

They really should get at least the Epyx license for the Lynx.

[Mclaneinc]

The reviews copy idea may be right, a Switch version was posted pre release that from digging DOES have Warbirds on it, it could be that many are playing via an emulator. Oddly it was posted with an update which normally suggests it's retail as the updates come via an online link for the Switch so must have been officially posted. Maybe it's a territory licensing thing?

[Mclaneinc]

Just noted via Reddit that Atari on Facebook in the last two days have said it WILL have warbirds, so maybe as an update. I'd head over to their Facebook to see what any reply to the question from a person without it may get.

 

Stranger and stranger, I just read a Tweet from Digital Eclipse saying that Warbirds is NOT in Atari 50. Strange because there are many reports of people playing it. Is there anyone who has the leggit version that HAS Warbirds, from video's and tweets etc it's confirmed there IS a version that does indeed have Warbirds?

 

After a swift download, yeah, Warbirds for sure is on the pre release version, wonder why the sudden removal so shortly before release...Playable but a bit slow on my age old PC.

Edited November 13, 2022 by Mclaneinc

[griff3125]

On 11/12/2022 at 5:24 AM, spookt said:

Enjoying a game of Star Raiders on the big screen this morning!

Once I figured out out to switch it into classic mode it played really nicely. 

What's the classic mode? Can the keys be mapped to the keyboard? What did they mean by 'enhanced', is it just the 5200 version? Thanks for any input on this, it's my favorite game.

[+DrVenkman]

1 hour ago, griff3125 said:

is it just the 5200 version?

Here's the game description screen from the collection:

 

 

There's also an interview from the folks who originally conceived and developed the game:

\

 

In the game itself, you can select the game mode (see menu at right, near the bottom):

 

If you select Enhanced mode, you will get this surround/bezel graphic with indicator lights. You can turn that off, and stick with either 4:3 or stretched mode if you prefer.

[bfollowell]

3 hours ago, DrVenkman said:

Here's the game description screen from the collection:

 

There's also an interview from the folks who originally conceived and developed the game:

 

In the game itself, you can select the game mode (see menu at right, near the bottom):

 

If you select Enhanced mode, you will get this surround/bezel graphic with indicator lights. You can turn that off, and stick with either 4:3 or stretched mode if you prefer.

 

 

Cool! Thanks for the info. So, can you play it with a regular Atari CX40 joystick through and adapter cable, even though the 5200 version used those horrible analog sticks? I'm assuming the extra commands are through the keyboard like they were on the 8-bit, even though it's in the 5200 section?

 

I really find it strange that this was under the 5200 section rather than the 8-bit section. In my opinion, they should've had this one under the 8-bit section and Countermeasure in its place for the 5200. Of course, my opinion is worth absolutely nothing since the product is already done and out, but there it is. I'm excited to get the package in spite of my reservations about some of the title choices.

 

[+DrVenkman]

6 minutes ago, bfollowell said:

Cool! Thanks for the info. So, can you play it with a regular Atari CX40 joystick through and adapter cable, even though the 5200 version used those horrible analog sticks? I'm assuming the extra commands are through the keyboard like they were on the 8-bit, even though it's in the 5200 section?

Got no idea about that, sorry. I'm using either an XBox Elite 2 gamepad (most games) or a mouse/keyboard (arcade Missile Command for instance). With a modern gamepad, you move the right thumbstick up/down/left/right to select different camera views (a little modern graphical overlay appear like a weapon wheel in a modern FPS) and that sets your forward/aft view, your galactic map view or your local sector long-range scanner view. You can control your speed with the two triggers, and the shoulder bumpers for stuff like shields. Pretty intuitive once you're familiar with it. 

[spookt]

13 hours ago, griff3125 said:

What's the classic mode? Can the keys be mapped to the keyboard? What did they mean by 'enhanced', is it just the 5200 version? Thanks for any input on this, it's my favorite game.

I’m playing on switch so no idea about the keyboard options. When I started Star Raiders it was playing way too fast and had a mocked up cockpit graphic surrounding the screen. In the options for the game you can turn that off and turn off the overclocking. I set the display to wide and left the scanlines on and it plays pretty great. 
 

A lot of the keyboard commands are mapped to different button controllers and there’s a selection wheel on the right stick for different views (long range scan, forward, aft and galactic chart). All in all it does a good job of dealing with inputs once you remember which button is mapped to what. I found it pretty easy to pick up. 

[Robocop2]

On 11/12/2022 at 3:38 PM, roots.genoa said:

My guess is that it was still included in the review version for journalists. But when you think about it, there are now 5 Lynx games and 5 800 games, so it makes sense (kinda). It's still weird they couldn't add a game without removing one, though. Maybe they are already thinking of possible DLC?

They really should get at least the Epyx license for the Lynx.

I finally got a response over on Facebook direct from DE saying there was apparently a last minute permission request that was denied on warbirds so it isn’t part of the collection. I’m hopeful that it (and some other Lynx gems) can make their way over. I know that Evercade has two carts worth of Lynx games available some of which are even Epyx iirc so..some hope. Still it’s only a minor damper 

[zzip]

On 11/12/2022 at 11:54 AM, DrVenkman said:

Game choices are entirely IP/rights based, as well as an attempt at variety. Licenses aren’t free, kids.

True, but there's a number of Atari 8-bit IPs they should already have the rights to:  Crystal Castles, Centipede, Millipede, Star Raiders II, Missile Command etc.   Would help improve the paltry Atari8 selection.   Yeah they are mostly duplicates of games that show up on other platforms, but when has that stopped them before?

 

I'm also curious how the Big Five ( Miner 2049er/Bounty Bob)  acquisition came to be.  That seems like an unusual move for this iteration of Atari.   There's a whole bunch of similar small publishers from that era with classic games that sit in limbo that might be ripe for picking up   (Datasoft, Epyx, Synapse, First Star, etc)

[+kheller2]

https://www.vgchartz.com/article/454189/atari-50-the-anniversary-celebration-announced-for-all-major-platforms/  states AirWorld is included.  Um... I don't see that.

 

[+DrVenkman]

1 hour ago, kheller2 said:

https://www.vgchartz.com/article/454189/atari-50-the-anniversary-celebration-announced-for-all-major-platforms/  states AirWorld is included.  Um... I don't see that.

 

It's there but doesn't show in the full list of games, for some reason. It took me a few minutes to find, but if you explore the Atari timeline, at the bottom of the entry below WaterWorld, it's there to select and play.  

 

 

Note the copyright date:

 

[roots.genoa]

8 hours ago, DrVenkman said:

It's there but doesn't show in the full list of games, for some reason. It took me a few minutes to find, but if you explore the Atari timeline, at the bottom of the entry below WaterWorld, it's there to select and play.

It is there but not in the 2600 section; it's in the reimagined games.

[invisible kid]

I'll probably get this on one of the consoles for the easy big screen tv setup, but if there are differences between the versions, is there a best one? Or is there any advantage to the Steam version for PC?

[+DrVenkman]

3 hours ago, invisible kid said:

I'll probably get this on one of the consoles for the easy big screen tv setup, but if there are differences between the versions, is there a best one? Or is there any advantage to the Steam version for PC?

Each version appears to be identical. The one advantage I would give to the PC version is that for many (*) of the games played with paddles or Trak-Ball, you can use a mouse instead, which is very handy for precise control. Centipede or Missile Command with a mouse is MUCH easier to control than with an analog stick. 

 

(*) The lone exception I’ve found is 5200 Millipede, which only works with a thumbstick. That’s very odd to me because I have a repro cart for this one and it works great with a Trak-Ball. And 5200 Missile Command works with the mouse too, as does Super Breakout in lieu of paddles. Go figure. 

[invisible kid]

Thanks! Yes, good point, I have a trackball that I use with my pc.

[griff3125]

How's the mouse control on this for Centipede and Millipede?

One of my main gripes with the Atari anniversary edition was the added "Arcade trackball sliding" feature with the mouse movement,

done to accurately portray the real cabinet.

Problem is, it's not a real cabinet and I don't have a weighted trackball, so the mouse movement was really dodgy.

Did they do a better job on this anthology, or is it pretty much the same?

I'm looking for 1-1 movement, no pointer following and no weighty slides.

Thanks (again!) for any insight.

 

[leech]

On 11/12/2022 at 6:41 AM, DrVenkman said:

I bought it on Steam for $39.99. Some nice attention to detail in the packaging - for instance, if you enable scanline emulation in arcade Centipede, the lines are vertical because, after all, the arcade version used a CRT rotated 90 degrees for a vertical orientation.

 

A compiliation as nice as this makes me wish Atari had never auctioned off the IP for BATTLE ZONE, which definitely belongs in a package of this nature. I will also say that on a modern high-refresh gaming monitor, vector emulation is getting pretty good. Tempest, Asteroids/Asteroids Deluxe, Quadrun, etc. all look very nice. Not as good as a a real vector screen, but not as expensive as keeping a vector monitor running(or dealing with phosphor burnout and fatigue either). 

Huh, I may have to try a rotated screen on that with my MiSTer!  Donkey Kong is awesome that way!

[JLsoft]

Used a tool to unpack the assets archive from the released version, and yeah, there is no Warbirds for the Lynx ROM included.

 

Also missing is The Stacks for the 2600, even though it's mentioned in the museum/timeline section and there are manual images for it alongside all the other manual scans.

 

Also, 'Swordquest - Airworld' isn't an actual 2600 game, it's a custom made-to-look-like-it-is-on-the-2600 standalone.

 

--

 

[EDIT: It looks like Super Bug was meant to be included earlier in development also: There's a screen border for it, the folder with manual pages has scans of the arcade flyer, and there's a UI game list graphic of the cabinet with the other arcade games, but the image didn't get cleaned up and stylized with the red/blue gradient like the other cabinet images.  There's also an alt image for Sprint 8 that didn't get edited in the same way, but is still in the folder.

 

Plus there is an orphaned image in the box art folder, of Star Raiders for the 5200, but the filename is (basically) '5200 Solaris'...and it's weird because it's not the same image used for Star Raiders, it's the exact same box layout but the mottled 'texture'/scan artifacting/whatever of the silver/gray background is slightly different, along with elements of the box being moved around by like...a pixel.]

 

Edited November 19, 2022 by JLsoft
More digging...

[JLsoft]

On 11/16/2022 at 12:05 PM, griff3125 said:

How's the mouse control on this for Centipede and Millipede?

One of my main gripes with the Atari anniversary edition was the added "Arcade trackball sliding" feature with the mouse movement,

done to accurately portray the real cabinet.

Problem is, it's not a real cabinet and I don't have a weighted trackball, so the mouse movement was really dodgy.

Did they do a better job on this anthology, or is it pretty much the same?

I'm looking for 1-1 movement, no pointer following and no weighty slides.

Thanks (again!) for any insight.

 

You'll want to avoid this then...moving the mouse slides the player around, and it's painful...and no matter what the speed of the mouse movement, the player moves around at a max gamepad-analog-thumbstick speed.

[griff3125]

6 hours ago, JLsoft said:

You'll want to avoid this then...moving the mouse slides the player around, and it's painful...and no matter what the speed of the mouse movement, the player moves around at a max gamepad-analog-thumbstick speed.

Ah well, I'll probably grab it way down the road on when the price drops, a shame about the mouse control, thanks.

[snicklin]

On 11/13/2022 at 3:01 AM, bfollowell said:

 

Yeah, and why the heck is Star Raiders under the 5200 instead of the 8-bit section?!

 

I haven't downloaded the game set on my PS5 yet but I guess they used the 5200 version as I guess there are no keyboard based actions required.